A man who assaulted a restaurant patron and breached bail conditions received a stern reprimand from a magistrate yesterday, who told him he was not fit to form part of society if he could not abide by its conditions.

Whoever infringes its conditions should not be with us

Magistrate Carol Peralta spoke in no uncertain terms to 32-year-old Gary Wingfield, who pleaded not guilty.

“You don’t seem to have a healthy respect for authority,” the magistrate told him in denying a request for bail.

“Society has its conditions and whoever infringes those should not be with us.”

Police Inspector Joseph Busuttil said Mr Wingfield had completely ignored court orders. He had been put under curfew in another case and found in a bar over the weekend in the early hours of the morning. He was arrested the following day over the assault.

As the arraignment started, Mr Wingfield told the magistrate he only recently returned to Malta and had been “clean” for 10 years, yet was to enter rehabilitation on Wednesday.

Inspector Busuttil said the victims, Aldo Muscat and his wife Rose, phoned the police on Sunday after Mr Wingfield argued with them at Sofra Kebab house in St Paul’s Bay.

Officers found him inside, drunk, insisting he needed to eat and refusing to leave.

Defence lawyer Patrick Valentino said although his client had other pending cases over minor incidents, he was not some wayward criminal.

The case was deferred to Wednesday when a representative of the rehabilitation centre is expected to testify.